D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) recently signed an executive order that updates her previous mayoral order about sexual harassment in D.C. government.
Earlier this year, Bowser’s previous order dictated the course of action her administration took to address sexual harassment allegations surrounding senior administration official John Falcchicchio. After the release of its internal report about the allegations, D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At large) further assessed how D.C. agency officials respond to sexual harassment allegations.
Those meetings were supposed to culminate into a council committee hearing that never came to fruition.
On Tuesday, during the week when the council hearing was scheduled to happen, Bowser signed her executive order. It includes provisions reaffirming nontolerance for sexual harassment of any kind and requiring employees to be trained on sexual harassment every year.
The order also bans sexual and romantic relationships between D.C. government superiors and employees in their chain of command. No part of the order doesn’t apply to the D.C. Council, advisory neighborhood commissions, D.C. Courts and offices subordinate to them.
Bowser didn’t speak much Tuesday about the order to reporters, except to say that it took into account recent events.
“We engaged the 2017 citywide sexual harassment policy fully and it worked,” Bowser said. “There have been actions on what we learned in these months. The law has changed since we issued this order so it reflects the new law.”
By Nov. 17, D.C. agency directors are required to designate an agency human resources official who handles disclosures of relationships and resolves workplace issues concerning what the mayoral order prohibits. By early December, employees must disclose existing relationships falling within this provision.
By Dec. 12, agencies are required to report the number of relationships that have been disclosed to the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel and the contact information of the person handling requests for accommodation.
In circumstances when two people in a chain of command enter a relationship, whether dating, romantic or sexual, one of those people are required to seek employment that eliminates the power dynamic.
Agencies can make what the executive order describes as reasonable efforts to assist with transfers or reassignments in a manner that doesn’t disadvantage the two people in the relationship, or any other person for that matter.
No agency is required to grant a request or application for transfer or restructure its agency operations.
Other notable elements of the new executive order include:
- Employees are obligated to refrain from behavior that constitutes sexual harassing conduct, as well as behavior that calls into question whether they are providing services to constituents, agency clients, customers, contractors and grantees impartially and without harassment.
- Allegations of sexual harassment against the mayor, city administrator, mayor’s chief of staff, and others who report to the mayor, are referred to the Office of the Inspector General. Employees may report to the sexual harassment officer at their agency, or the supervisor or manager of the employee engaging in questionable behavior.
- The D.C. Office of Human Resources will maintain the names of sexual harassment officers submitted by each District agency. Sexual harassment officers, tasked with verifying facts, must have taken and will take annual training provided by the D.C. Office of Human Resources and the D.C. Office of Human Rights. They can also collect complaints from any District employee, regardless of agency.
- A sexual harassment task force, composed of representatives of the D.C. Office of Human Rights, the Mayor’s Office of General Counsel, the Department of Human Resources, the Mayor’s Office of General Counsel, the Department of Human Resources, the assistant city administrator, and the Mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel, will make recommendations about needed policies and other measures related to fulfilling the intent of the order. They are required to make these recommendations no later than May 1, 2024.
- Retaliatory behavior against people who report harassment includes: unwarranted reprimands, unfairly downgrading evaluations, transfers to less desirable positions, verbal and physical abuse, altered and inconvenient work schedules. The D.C. Office of Human Resources’ general counsel, not the sexual harassment officer, would be responsible for determining whether retaliation occurred. Employees found to engage in retaliatory behavior could be recommended for disciplinary action, including termination.
- Agencies are required to investigate allegations of sexual harassment beyond the legal statute of limitations. They are also to maintain records of complaints and investigations conducted for three years from the date of the complaint. During each fiscal year, each agency should track complaints by employees, customers and clients, grantees and contractors, and members of the public.